1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a hanging rack for sports equipment. In particular, the present invention is directed to a hanging rack for sports equipment which supports equipment in an inclined manner, such that the equipment is sloped downwardly toward the vertical surface upon which the rack is attached.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wide variety of equipment is used to participate in sports. If a person or family participates in a number of sports, a significant quantity of equipment is accumulated. Typically, the accumulation includes various types of equipment including balls, bats, hats, shoes, racquets, and protective equipment. Due to the different shapes and sizes of the equipment, the equipment is difficult to store in an organized and accessible manner. Also, if the equipment is not stored efficiently, it may occupy a large volume of space within one's home that could be utilized for another purpose.
The prior art storage devices are particularly inept for storing balls of various sizes. If balls are stored in a large container such as a box or canister, the balls take up a great deal of the space, and balls not located near the top of the container are difficult to identify and remove. The use of chutes also is limited by the diameter of the chute and the inaccessibility of balls in the middle of the chute. Also, conventional racks such as those used to store basketballs are unsuitable for storing a variety of balls. These racks typically include horizontal pairs of parallel retaining members. The members are usually spaced from one another at a selected distance so that balls with diameters significantly different from the diameter of a basketball may not be stored on the rack. Further, when the rack is set into motion, the balls easily tumble from their positions on the rack.
It has been found that hanging a storage device to a vertical surface, such as one side of a door, is advantageous for storing various items in a compact and efficient manner. Specifically, hanging shoe racks have been utilized to organize and store a large number of shoes. One known prior art rack for storing shoes, U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,073 to Klein et al., discloses a shoe rack which is suspended from a vertical surface. The shoe rack has opposing main body sections. A plurality of support arms project outwardly and downwardly from each main body section. Retaining bars are positioned between opposing support arms at the base and end of the support arms. Shoes are placed on the outer retaining bar of one pair of opposing support arms and the inner retaining bar of the next lower pair of opposing support arms.
Thus, the shoes are directed downwardly into contact with the vertical surface on which the rack is hung. The downwardly extending support arms traverse the sides of the shoes to prevent them from sliding laterally off the rack.
The shoe rack disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,073 is particularly effective for retaining various types of shoes. However, it is relatively ineffective for retaining many other types of sports equipment. First, if the equipment is too large or too small, it may not be supported by the retaining bars of the shoe rack. Also, the spacing between the support arms does not allow equipment of different sizes and shapes to be stored compactly and efficiently. Additionally, the rack disclosed in the prior art patent can not effectively support irregular shaped equipment such as, for instance, baseball bats and tennis rackets.
Accordingly, the need exists for a compact hanging rack capable of storing a number of pieces of sports equipment varying in both shape and size. The present invention fills this and other needs, and overcomes the problems associated with the prior art.